Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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47. To ask the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 66 to 70, inclusive, of 16 May 2018, the details of the amendment to the legislation that will be brought forward in the Finance Bill 2018 to impose a calcium threshold on products within the exempt categories; the proposed threshold; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23011/18]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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As indicated previously a small number of exemptions from the sugar-sweetened drinks tax exist for drinks within the CN 2202 category on the basis of the policy rationale for the introduction of the tax.  

In order to ensure that the tax is free from State aid a formal notification of Ireland's intention to introduce the tax was submitted to the European Commission earlier this year.  The Commission found that the tax, as designed, did not constitute aid.  For reasons of clarity amendments will be brought forward in this years Finance Bill to impose a calcium threshold on drinks within some of the exempt CN 2202 headings.

A calcium threshold will be introduced for soya drinks (CN 2202 99 11) and cereal/seed/nut drinks (CN 2202 99 15) and drinks containing milk fats (CN headings 2202 99 91, 2202 99 95 and 2202 99 99). The rationale for exempting these drinks is they are comparable to dairy, some offer an alternative to dairy for persons with dietary requirements such as lactose intolerance, and others contain milk fats which make them closer to dairy that water based beverages.

To ensure consistancy, a calcium threshold similar to that contained in dairy will be introduced.  Milk contains in the region of 119milligrams per 100millilitres of liquid and it is likely that the threshold will place a similar calcium requirement on drinks in the above CN headings in order to be exempt from the tax.

Work is ongoing and these amendments will form part of this year's Finance Bill.